TY - JOUR
T1 - Antisense Oligonucleotide-Based Splicing Correction in Individuals with Leber Congenital Amaurosis due to Compound Heterozygosity for the c.2991+1655A>G Mutation in CEP290
AU - Duijkers, Lonneke
AU - van den Born, L Ingeborgh
AU - Neidhardt, John
AU - Bax, Nathalie M
AU - Pierrache, Laurence H M
AU - Klevering, B Jeroen
AU - Collin, Rob W J
AU - Garanto, Alejandro
PY - 2018/3/7
Y1 - 2018/3/7
N2 - Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a rare inherited retinal disorder affecting approximately 1:50,000 people worldwide. So far, mutations in 25 genes have been associated with LCA, with CEP290 (encoding the Centrosomal protein of 290 kDa) being the most frequently mutated gene. The most recurrent LCA-causing CEP290 mutation, c.2991+1655A>G, causes the insertion of a pseudoexon into a variable proportion of CEP290 transcripts. We previously demonstrated that antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) have a high therapeutic potential for patients homozygously harbouring this mutation, although to date, it is unclear whether rescuing one single allele is enough to restore CEP290 function. Here, we assessed the AON efficacy at RNA, protein and cellular levels in samples that are compound heterozygous for this mutation, together with a protein-truncating mutation in CEP290. We demonstrate that AONs can efficiently restore splicing and increase protein levels. However, due to a high variability in ciliation among the patient-derived cell lines, the efficacy of the AONs was more difficult to assess at the cellular level. This observation points towards the importance of the severity of the second allele and possibly other genetic variants present in each individual. Overall, AONs seem to be a promising tool to treat CEP290-associated LCA, not only in homozygous but also in compound heterozygous carriers of the c.2991+1655A>G variant.
AB - Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a rare inherited retinal disorder affecting approximately 1:50,000 people worldwide. So far, mutations in 25 genes have been associated with LCA, with CEP290 (encoding the Centrosomal protein of 290 kDa) being the most frequently mutated gene. The most recurrent LCA-causing CEP290 mutation, c.2991+1655A>G, causes the insertion of a pseudoexon into a variable proportion of CEP290 transcripts. We previously demonstrated that antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) have a high therapeutic potential for patients homozygously harbouring this mutation, although to date, it is unclear whether rescuing one single allele is enough to restore CEP290 function. Here, we assessed the AON efficacy at RNA, protein and cellular levels in samples that are compound heterozygous for this mutation, together with a protein-truncating mutation in CEP290. We demonstrate that AONs can efficiently restore splicing and increase protein levels. However, due to a high variability in ciliation among the patient-derived cell lines, the efficacy of the AONs was more difficult to assess at the cellular level. This observation points towards the importance of the severity of the second allele and possibly other genetic variants present in each individual. Overall, AONs seem to be a promising tool to treat CEP290-associated LCA, not only in homozygous but also in compound heterozygous carriers of the c.2991+1655A>G variant.
KW - Alleles
KW - Antigens, Neoplasm/genetics
KW - Cell Line
KW - Female
KW - Gene Expression
KW - Heterozygote
KW - Humans
KW - Immunohistochemistry
KW - Leber Congenital Amaurosis/genetics
KW - Male
KW - Mutation
KW - Neoplasm Proteins/genetics
KW - Oligonucleotides, Antisense
KW - RNA Splicing
U2 - 10.3390/ijms19030753
DO - 10.3390/ijms19030753
M3 - Article
C2 - 29518907
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
IS - 3
ER -